Tainted Waters
by Vannessa Hillstead
Summary: Mai loves Joey...right? Or does she love the mysterious man that saved her from an assailant, one stormy night? Then again, with love, nothing is what it seems...


Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Dedicated to: Computerfreak101, who, unintentionally, has made me into a Conceitshipper.

_Dear Mai,_

_Meet me at the corner of sixth and seventh at midnight tonight. Don't come with anybody, or tell anybody where you're going at that time. Please. Just come._

_Joey_

"Oh no ," muttered Mai. She and Joey had broken up about a week previous, because for some reason, Joey kept getting sent to the hospital, and had a few scars from were a knife had slashed him when he was coming to the hotel to visit. They had had to break up, because them being together would ultimatly cause his death if they didn't separate.

_But, what if..._

Rain soaked the streets of Domino that night, allowing positively no one to leave their home for fear of getting wet by the dark, icy rain. Not that Mai cared.

At 11:00, one of the elevators in the lobby of the Domino City Hotel, dinged, allowing the tall, blonde haired female to exit, since it was late at night, there was a minimal amount of people in the lobby. The people that were there, looked as though they wanted alone time, as Mai ran by, several looked up from their newspapers, to see who had the nerve to wake up at that hour.

"Ms.Valentine? Would you like to have someone escort you to your car?"

Mai ran past the concierge, barely hearing his complaints about her leaving in the middle of a storm.

_Please be okay, Joey._

She thrust open the doors, and walked straight into the pouring rain. She let go of the doors, allowing them to slam against the hotel.

She splashed through the puddles that filled every crack in the street, the stiletto heels on her boots buckling under the pressure that she was putting on them. She was about thirty feet away from the place where sixth met seventh, when one of her heels snapped off sending Mai backwards.

"Shit."

She landed in a deep pool of water tainted with mud. The backs of her legs were scraped from the fall, and her entire backside was wet. She pulled herself up, and took her shoes off. Both heels had been snapped clean off, and it would be unsafe to continue while wearing them.

"Mai," whispered a voice.

"Who's there?" she dared to ask.

"Here."

Mai's eyes widened, noticing a figure that lay in a heap beside her. Pools of red seeped out of its chest, and stained its clothes.

It was Joey.

Mai dropped down on her knees, grabbing Joey's hand.

"...my God. Oh my God. What happened?"

Joey looked up at Mai, the color from his blue eyes fading. "I'm sorry."

"What?" she gasped, choking on her breath.

"Poor mutt. Got what he deserved." Mai glanced over her shoulder, seeing nothing but the shifting shadows.

"Who's there. ...Shhhoooww your self."

_There's nobody here. I'm just imagining things. _

The shadows shifted, a figure darting through the thin alley, across the park, against the tops of the buildings...

"Boo."

"HEL..." A rough hand grasped her mouth. Her arm instinctivley went towards the hand around her mouth, trying to pry it away. Another hand grasped her arm, grazing it with a small poketknife.

Mai forced herself swallowed her fear, and looked her assailant in the eye. A white-haired demonic looking male looked back at her, his lips twisted into a smirk that would frighten Satan away.

His fingers ran over her face, savoring the touch of her smooth, creamy skin. Mai squirmed under his touch. His tongue ran over his lips, like a snake that just caught its prey.

"Hey. What are you doing?"

Her assailant was yanked away from her, a large, muscular man holding him by the neck. Too equally large men grabbed Mai's arms and pinned them behind her back.

"Get away from me you creeps!"

"Not likely sugar plum," said the man on her right, running a greasy hand through her blonde hair. The man on her left pulled his friend's hand out of her hair, and nodded.

"_Your _not going to get away with what you did!" hissed the other man, holding her assailant by the neck.

"I wasn't aware that she was your property."

The man gripped tighter, his grimy hands coming very close to crushing his victim's neck.

"WHAT WAS THAT!"

"I think he said: Do you want to die?" remarked the man on Mai's right.

"Shut the hell up."

"Yes boss."

All of a sudden, darkness enveloped the alley. Mai pulled herself away from her captors, who she was suprised to learn, weren't there. She looked down to see the bodies of two of the men.

"YA...!"

She backed up, and lost her footing over a large lump in the ground.

"You really should be more careful."

She stopped, inches from the ground. She looked up to see the same sadistic smirk looking down at her.

"Put me down, you creep!"

"Are you sure?"

Thousands of small bugs gathered under her, snapping their small pincers at her backside. She tried to kick them away, but she realized that she had long abandoned her shoes.

"Help me," she murmured, "please..."

In the next moment, the mass of bugs ebbed away from her body, and she was lifted off her feet by the stranger, who held her in a tight embrace. She was finally able to take a good look at him, and realized...

"Your Baku..."

Her words were cut short by a passionate kiss. She didn't struggle, instead, she hugged him tighter and kissed back. He backed up against the wall, and she came up against him.

_What the hell am I doing?_

She pulled away from him, her head swimming.

_What the hell have I done... I don't love him...I love Joey...right?_

She fell backwards, hitting the pavement with a sharp _thud._

Bakura walked away from the wall, and went over to where she had landed. He threw a couple of quarters at her feet.

"What's that for?"

"If you can get up, you'll need money to call the ambulance." He went to turn the corner, his black trench coat swishing around his ankles.

"Please..help me!" she yelled, feeling the pain from the fall creeping and crawling up her spine.

"I'm afraid I can't do that my dear."

"..what about Joey?"

"He was killed by those idiots who jumped us. ...not me."

"What...?"

Bakura was the last thing Mai saw before the darkness engulfed her.


End file.
